Human factor vulnerabilities in healthcare cybersecurity: Mitigating insider threats in medical facilities

Healthcare organizations are experiencing a swift increase in cyberattacks targeting valuable patient data and essential systems. Healthcare often spends less on cybersecurity infrastructure than other industries, which makes human weaknesses a major risk factor. Staff and insiders are often to blame for major breaches.

Objective: This study seeks to examine the primary human-factor vulnerabilities in healthcare cybersecurity and to suggest strategies for reducing insider threats in medical facilities.

Methods: We executed a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed studies, industry reports, and breach data (2015–2024) in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Qualitative thematic coding was employed to identify persistent human-risk themes and assess current mitigation frameworks.

The review shows that most healthcare breaches are caused by mistakes made by people or people who work for the company. Some of the most important weaknesses are being open to social engineering (especially phishing) and being careless because of not enough training, being tired, or a bad security culture. Malicious insiders (data theft, sabotage) and compromised credentials (phishing victims) make the risk even higher. Good ways to reduce risk include technological controls (like access management and monitoring), organizational policies (like role-based privileges and zero-trust), and human-centered measures (like regular training and stress management). Our proposed multi-layered framework integrates these methodologies.

Conclusion: This paper provides a thorough understanding of the predominance of human factors in healthcare cyber risk and presents a sociotechnical framework for mitigation. The study enhances practice and policy by integrating behavioral insights with technical controls and policy alignment, such as compliance with HIPAA and GDPR. Subsequent research ought to investigate AI-facilitated insider detection and cross-cultural analyses of cybersecurity within the health sector.